Thanks, Linda. As always, you give the best answers! I am look for the
family of James Bruster/Brewster/Bruister, born about 1745 near Coleraine
and left for America about 1760-1765. I believe the family was originally
Scots and had probably been in Northern Ireland for at least a couple of
generations prior to James' birth. In Virginia, James was a sheep farmer
and I suspect that he/his family were sheep farmers in Ireland as well. All
I know for sure is that in 1798 a Robert Bruster, probably a cousin of James
(who was then in Jessamine County KY), died in Mercer County KY and in his
will left his estate to the sons of his brother who were living "about three
miles from Coleraine" in Ireland when he left Ireland in the 1770s. That is
the only solid lead I have back to Ireland; otherwise it's just the family
lore that says James Brewster was born in County Derry Ireland around 1745
and came to America as a young man.

I appreciate your help and your recommendations. I take them to heart and
search as you recommend -- just haven't found anything yet, and know that I
may not from that time period -- but I keep hoping and looking!

When the plantations were begun after the ending of 50 years of war in
Ulster, there were no churches with a roof on them. What were left were
ruins of ancient parishes and monasteries. In the early 1600s with the
destruction of Catholicism, these were 'taken over' by Protestants. Some
were too ruined to rehab, so some parish churches were built anew. Preaching
in these were ministers. In the first 30 years the Presbyterian church had
not been separated from the Church of Ireland. Actually it was impossible to
lure English parsons to Ulster to their death. The planting of Ulster was
one in a series of such events implemented by England in Ireland -- and they
all ended in the slaughter of the settlers. That's one reason King James
lured over the Scots, he couldn't convince many English to try this ....
again.

The Scots were more used to harsh conditions and had been forbidden to
migrate there before -- so they came. Reversing previous English policy
regarding the settlement of Scots in Ireland was one of Jamie's more radical
decisions. Most English felt it would not end well.

So most of the early ministers were Scots. They faced an ordeal in the 1630s
when the high churchmen took control of the Church of England and of
Ireland. They persecuted non-subscribing Protestants (instead of Catholics)
-- so ministers who would not recognize bishops were ejected from their
parishes. Some returned to Scotland and some preached illegally while doing
subsistence farming -- living far below the income of any Church of Ireland
ministers who came to replace them.

The picture you should have in your mind is that of very few churches of all
of any name. People living in Ulster (many Scots highlanders, native Irish,
descendents of Welsh, English, Scots (like the Bissetts), etc -- they were
no doubt amazed to see any clergy. Having had little opportunities for
Sunday School, they were not clear on the differences amongst various
clergy. If someone wanted to get married or baptized, often they were lucky
to find someone, anyone, willing to do it. Or they traveled far --- to
Templemore or Belfast or some place with clergy.

In addition to this state where no one was well aware yet of the religious
differences that would soon divide Ulster's people for hundreds of years,
the upper class was realizing that under English law, to inherit an estate,
you needed a legal heir -- you needed a legal marriage (such as only the
Church of Ireland or later the Quakers could do) and baptized heirs --
baptized in the church of Ireland.

So regardless of private religious beliefs, in these early years, many
people were married and baptized in the Church of Ireland. Rule number 2 or
3 of Irish genealogy is ALWAYS check the Church of Ireland parish records,
no matter what you think their religion was. They might appear. You might
get lucky.

Two things work against us here: Not all parishes in the early days were
functional. Many had no minsters or buildings. What did those people do?
What do we do now? We go to one that is functioning. The second problem is
that many of the early records not only were not kept (since there was no
functional church in that parish) but many were later destroyed. Luckily
there were no walls between parishes and people were free to move about the
country. Then as now, people married in the wife's parish, so your ancestor,
cemented into some back-water townland in a non functional parish, might
have been married in another parish where his future wife lived.

Therefore you search WIDE. You always do.

Luckily very earily surviving parish records are often published, like
Templemore. Books that teach about how to do Irish genealogy identify the
Templemore registers as a vast regional treasurehouse. Lots of Irish names
amongst them as well as -- well, you never know. So if your ancestor lived
in Ulster, y ou should check these registers as well as early ones from
Belfast. The Belfast ones may contain the names of individuals living in
northern Antrim or other directions fairly far from Belfast. I could go on
and on but it's too much for an email, assuming I could remember what I read
about it <grin>! Falley may cost $150 but most likely a library near you has
a copy....and she had a whole chapter on just Church of Ireland records that
includes a history of the Church of Ireland -- relevant to a genealogist's
concerns of finding the records.

Many of the people in the Templemore registers are identified by the
townland or parish where they live. So you can sometimes get a bead on where
that was by the entry. Of course some are not. Unless it is indexed by
place, how would John know if there are people in there from Coleraine? I
can't recall, myself if it is or not.

Using Worldcat.org, the nearest copy is 173 miles away in Buffalo. I believe
the FHL has a copy too. I either used it there or in New England at NEHGS.
Library of Congress of course has a copy.....etc...

Meaning, everyone should check this book as part of your Irish research --
the no brainer round when you check all the 'low hanging fruit' that's
relatively easy to get to, especially if you are nice to John and don't make
fun of his ephods.

I need a copy for browsing. My CD was copied from the text holdings of
Trinity College Dublin Library Collection. PRONI has the text copy,
Trinity
College Dublin has the text and the Cathedral has the text.

I am pleasantly surprised that there are so many old, out of print and out
of copyright references

>

I have a CD of Derry Cathedral Register. AD1642-1703, 34.67MB
by Parish Register Society, that someone gave me.